Wanderings of a Dedicated Global Citizen

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“Roadtrip Nation [video here] empowers you to define your own road in life instead of traveling down someone else’s. Living a life fueled by authenticity and passion allows people the ability to offer their creativity, ingenuity, and enthusiasm toward their goals. We hope that this, in turn, will build a better local, national, and global community.” How right they are. Here’s the start of my profile:

Byron and I at UCSD in 2011. He was and continues to be such an incredible mentor.

Congratulations to my great friend and exceptional mentor, Byron Washom, on his newest adventure! He is charged with the admirable work of powering Lanai with 100% renewable energy. The island was recently purchased by Larry Ellison for $500 million. As he would say, it’s going to be a game changer. Byron on 10 News San Diego

Here he is when we first met. I was interviewing him on a climate change initiative I started on campus at UCSD while I was a grad school student.

Here’s a short video that I filmed and co-produced for a couple European and Brazilian organizations. It’s HOT OFF THE PRESS. I think it does a solid job summarizing my recent work in Brazil from Nov’12 – Feb’13. If you’d like to see the longer version, click here. For the Portuguese version, click here. Under this video, you’ll find an interview I did about a month ago. Can you guess where in San Diego it was shot?

I visited a friend’s project outside of Rio last week. The place and the people that work there were so awesome that I felt compeled to make a quick video for the initiative. Have a look. PS: Happy 2013!

Hi from Sinal do Vale in Xerém, Brazil and Merry Christmas Eve. I am at a friend’s sustainable farm and retreat in the hills above Rio de Janeiro!!! Just what I needed for the holidays. I got here the day before yesterday after an amazing trip to Paraty, a colonial beach town a few hours from here, where some friends and I attended a beginning-of-the-world party at the city’s Cultural Center.

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We were invited to Paraty by Edgar Gouveia Jr, an architect specializing in bioarchitecture and intuitive technology with a post-degree in cooperative games. He is also the founder of Elos Institute and Warriors Without Weapons program. This guy is at the forefront of applied research on how to change the world. As it so happens, this particular night, December 21, also marked the launch of Edgar’s online game – Play the Call – that aims to change the world — for real. Thousands of programers from around the world, including employees at Pixar, have contributed their time to the cause. Here he is a couple years ago on TEDx Amazonia (it’s in Portuguese…).

Edgar is an amazing human that makes you believe, through his positive energy and optimism, that anything is possible. I tip my hat to him and the rest of the Play the Call team. Best of luck guys!

And, again, Merry Christmas Eve. Tomorrow I will be at Copacabana Beach for a concert with Stevie Wonder and Gilberto Gil. The event organizers are expecting 1 MILLION people. Rio de Janeiro, here i come. (I still haven’t forgotten to tell you what the Great Barrier Reef, NYC, and the Brazilian Sertão have in common. It’ll be one of the next blog posts.)